Science Education in Public K-12 Schools

The central idea of my research was to prove that science education was beneficial to a student\u27s overall education. This was an important problem for me to investigate because as a passionate STEM minor, I feel science education is under-taught at K-12 schools. Before my research began, I hypothesized that the inclusion of science lessons would increase classroom engagement. Inquiry based teaching, rather than lecture-style teaching stimulates student discussion, manipulation, and investigation. Due to the active, hands-on nature of science, I sought to research whether the inquiry of science education would increase engagement levels. In my recent three week practicum experience, I was placed in a kindergarten classroom in Michigan City. This high-need community provided the perfect opportunity for me to plan and give three hands-on science lessons to my students. I video recorded myself and the students during each of my lessons so I could track and timestamp the engagement levels of each student. To compare my results to a control, I also planned to record the science lessons from my Cooperating Teacher in the kindergarten classroom in Michigan City. The overall results showed that hands-on science showed a much higher engagement level than lecture-style lessons